The seven basic elements of design are color, shape, texture, form, value, and space. All different and individually and collectively important, these are the basic elements that make up any design. As a designer you should be able to identify these elements in your daily surroundings. Once you have a sound understanding of the elements of design you can learn how to effectively apply the principles of design. The elements and principles of design are the fundamental tools in our design toolbox. Most of us, if not all, have “tools” sitting unused and misunderstood in our collection. It is through the study and experimentation of these tools that we can become masters of our trade.
Leo Marx in “Mr. Eliot, Mr. Trilling, and Huckleberry Finn,” addresses T.S. Eliot and Lionel Trilling’s “unqualified praise” (Marx 7) of Clemens’ signature novel. Marx finds that the critics fail to recognize the novel’s flaws, though Marx himself admits he likes most of the story – he admires Huck’s maturation during his time on the raft. Marx argues that the final episode which “comprises almost one-fifth of the text” (8) makes Huck’s journey irrelevant and causes readers to question the purpose of the journey. He calls the ending a farce, revealing it is propped up by improbable circumstances, such as the “flimsy contrivance with which Clemens frees Jim” (9), the “tedious” (10) burlesque used by Huck and Tom and Clemens’ inability to “control the central theme” (13) of freedom. Such events divest Huck and Jim of their “dignity and individuality,” (12) leaving them hollow comic characters, while Tom Sawyer steals the show. Marx continues his attack on Trilling and Eliot, saying that their emphasis on form is superficial and obsequious – they should really be concerned with social or political morality. Marx finishes by advocating critics do not “minimize the seriousness” of the novel’s “major flaw” or else “repeat Clemens’ failure of nerve” (19). The goal of the critic, according to Marx is to look past form and unity but instead focus on the deeper issues that are present – or lacking – within a novel.
After reading Marx’s argument, some readers may be tempted to rip out the last few chapters of Huckleberry Finn. While they can do so, dismissing the final episodes of Huckleberry Finn does a disservice to the novel, because the ending – though unpopular – adds texture to the work. Although Marx argues that the ending “jeopardizes the significance of the entire novel,” (8) it illustrates profound moral lessons through Huck’s character superiority and Jim’s triumph over white racism while continuing the quest for freedom.
Marx argues that the “disintegration of the major characters” (14), especially Huck Finn, contributes to the ending’s failure. Unlike the boy who blends “his instinctive suspicion of human motives with his capacity for pity” (11) earlier in the novel, the Huck Finn at the Phelps’ ranch is a mere “comic character” (11), one who “regresses to the subordinate role in which he had first appeared in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” (12) according to Marx. But contrary to Marx’s essay, the novel’s ending illustrates that Huck is no mere side character, but this former country-bumpkin, is morally superior to the “respectable and well brung up” (Twain 247) Tom Sawyer. Unlike Tom, who wants to free Jim for fun, Huck participates in Tom’s “extravagant fantasies” (15), because he vows to do anything to free Jim, even endanger his soul -“I’ll go to hell,” (Twain 228) he tells himself earlier. Huck’s lack of judgment is not failing to see through Tom’s schemes, but by telling Tom his plan in the
